Halogenation with silicate materials

The potassium silicate materials are less versatile in terms of formulation flexibility than the sodium silicate materials. However, they are less susceptible to crystallization in high concentrations of sulfuric acid so long as metal ion contamination is minimal. Potassium silicate materials are available with halogen free hardening systems, thereby removing the remote possibility for catalyst poisoning in certain chemical processes. 

The LDH materials can be very interesting to industry as they combine the features of conventional metal hydroxide-type fillers, like magnesium hydroxide (MH), with the layered silicate type of nanofillers, Hke montmorillonite. The major area of interest in this regard is the role of LDH materials as potential non-halogenated, non-toxic flame retardant for polymer matrices. For years, scientists have been using the concept of nanotechnology to improve the flame retardancy of polymer nanocomposites. This approach involves the dispersion of inorganic filler, in nanoscale, as flame retardants into a polymer matrix. Usually, for this purpose, layered silicates and various other nanoparticles (MgO, MH, etc.) are used after suitable pretreatment. Several research reports have already shown that such an approach indeed improves the flame retardancy of the composites [22,23]. 

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